Now that it needs friends following a massive oil spill, there's skepticism that it will find any.

The company faces congressional investigations into the causes of an oil rig explosion that has led to a massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The company asked for and has received federal help to stop the oil from hitting shore. But the Obama administration has talked tough, with the president stating that BP must repay the costs and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on a Sunday morning talk show saying, "Our job is basically to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum."

"My hunch is that we will see a pretty tough congressional response," said Sarah Binder, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank, noting that following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, Congress passed legislation clarifying oil company liability for spills. "These are sort of classic opportunities for Congress to sort of push along legislation that in the past might have been opposed."

With this disaster, BP and other oil companies potentially face pushes on a number of issues, including an effort to eliminate tax breaks they get, changing how much they pay in royalties, and forcing them to contribute more to funds for such spills, said Tyson Slocum, director of Public Citizen's Energy Program.

"They need a lot of friends, and they need a lot of people speaking on their behalf," Slocum said, noting that trade group American Petroleum Institute and other oil companies already are rallying to defend the overall safety record of oil companies and try to prevent a legislative crackdown.

In an interview yesterday, API President Jack Gerard said that there was a unified effort to help stop the spill.

"The entire industry is engaged on multiple levels," Gerard said, adding that he had been in touch with the Obama administration on a regular basis. "The best thinking around the globe has been assembled."

BP and other oil companies are among the biggest spenders on lobbying and campaign contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which has analyzed reports filed with the House and Senate.

BP paid $6.2 million in campaign contributions since 1990, landing on the list of 107 "heavy hitters" compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The company's political action committee has helped the re-election efforts of many, including Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee; Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky; Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who has backed expanded drilling; and Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), who sits on key committees and whose state right now stands to be the most affected by oil headed for land. Landrieu also is considered a swing vote in climate legislation.

And that's just part of BP's political spending.

Just in the past year, BP doled out nearly $16 million for influence efforts, using both its own lobbyists and those with eight other firms, according to Center for Responsive Politics. BP tapped one of the town's most plugged-in advocators, Tony Podesta, as well as lobbyists who had previously worked for Landrieu; former Sen. John Breaux (D-La.); the Senate Commerce, Science & Technology Committee; and the Congressional Black Caucus.

That lobbying total made BP the fourth-biggest spender among all oil and natural gas companies tracked by Center for Responsive Politics.

"Certainly in every industry, campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures play a huge role in the influence that corporations have," said Lisa Gilbert, an expert on money and politics with U.S. PIRG. "I don't think that you can necessarily point fingers and say that there's a quid pro quo, but the system itself, the money is corrosive. When you need money to be re-elected and you're aware of it, the money factors in."

Others doubted it will make much difference.

"I don't think at this point lobbying and campaign contributions are going to help them being radioactive as a company," said Ken Green, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute think tank. "I don't think there's enough lobbying money and campaign contributions to fix the black eye that this is going to give offshore drilling."